What does the speed rating on the DVD-ROM mean?
DVD-ROM Drive speeds are written in the form of a number followed by an X.  The number is a representation of the transfer rate of the drive (how fast the drive can read data from a DVD). Standard transfer rates are 1.32MB/s (mega-bytes per second) for every X value. To find your drive's transfer rate simply multiply its rating by the 1.32 MB/s factor. Some sample drive speeds are: